Brig "Mercury" from Amati, scale 1:64

[Walterone]

Stulzes = quarter galleries

 

[Alexander74]

Good day to all. Work on building the brig continues. I have made the foremast and mainmast, the equipment of the topsail platforms continues, and I have made the bowsprit and jib.

 

[Alexander74]

Started to sheathe the hull. Work is going slowly. 1 belt per day. Total 23 sheathing belts. Below the barkhout is black hornbeam, then birch. The bottom will be sheathed with copper plates.

 

[Alexander74]

Hello everyone.
Finished the hull sheathing, pre-sanded it. Needs to be perfected before laying the copper sheathing.

 

[Alexander74]

Started cutting gun ports. Tried out guns as they would be installed later. There would also be oar ports.

 

[Heinrich]

It already looks like a totally different ship, Sasha. Beautiful planking with the ebony wood.

 

[Alexander74]

It already looks like a totally different ship, Sasha. Beautiful planking with the ebony wood.

Thank you Heinrich

 

[Alexander74]

Hello everyone. Continuation of the construction of the brig Mercury. I finished cutting the gun ports, started on the oar ports. The size of the oar port in my scale is 4x4.5 mm. I cut out a block of red hornbeam with a small margin for processing. We mark the place for the portico, drill a hole. Using needle files, we make a rectangle in the side. We insert the rectangle, sand it on both sides of the side, drill a hole again and process it from the inside to a rectangle. This is what we get.

 

[Alexander74]

General view of the deck, making superstructures in the stern. We adjust, cut, adjust again, try on and so on until a positive result is achieved.

 

[Alexander74]

Started laying the copper sheathing. Copper sheets from the kit. Marked the waterline, laid the top two strips that went along the waterline. Then from the keel upwards laying the sheets.

 

[Namabiiru]

Looks beautiful. Forgive me for asking, but should not the plates overlap slightly?

 

[Walterone]

should not the plates overlap slightly?

It will look too rough and out of scale.

 

[Alexander74]

Looks beautiful. Forgive me for asking, but should not the plates overlap slightly?

They should, but it is impossible to implement it on a large scale. Therefore, only in a butt joint

 

[Walterone]

In addition, the etching on the plates itself imitates overlap. The main thing is not to leave gaps between the copper sheets.

 

[Frank48]

Inoltre, l'incisione sulle piastre stessa imita la sovrapposizione. La cosa principale è non lasciare spazi tra i fogli di rame.

Ciao, scusatemi, tutte queste ore di ricerca e di prova del colore che senso ha se fate così tanti compromessi? Frank

 

[Walterone]

Ciao, scusatemi, tutte queste ore di ricerca e di prova del colore che senso ha se fate così tanti compromessi? Frank

Tutto, secondo me, dipende 1) dalla scala e 2) dall'abilità del modellista.

 

[AllanKP69]

I love how your coppering of the false keel is done rather than running up to the keel itself. Nicely done. FWIW, the coppering was always started at the water line and then worked down towards the keel so the overlap (or in our case, the simulation) was lower rows on top of the upper rows, opposite of roof shingles.

Your oar ports are very neatly done. Do you have problems with tear out drilling such a large hole versus a series of tiny holes around the periphery before filing the border?

Allan

 

[Alexander74]

I love how your coppering of the false keel is done rather than running up to the keel itself. Nicely done. FWIW, the coppering was always started at the water line and then worked down towards the keel so the overlap (or in our case, the simulation) was lower rows on top of the upper rows, opposite of roof shingles.

Your oar ports are very neatly done. Do you have problems with tear out drilling such a large hole versus a series of tiny holes around the periphery before filing the border?

Allan

Allan, there are many ways of copper sheathing and they are all different. For large ships of the frigate type and above, the sheathing was laid in one way, for schooners and brigs in another. In my country, on various forums, "more than one spear has been broken" on this matter. I sheathed the brig Mercury like the schooner I was assembling. The sheets are arranged like scales on a fish - from the bottom up and from the bow to the stern. Due to the fact that there is no overlap of the sheets, this is not difficult to do. It is more difficult to bend the copper sheets. In the photo you can see that they are not cut, but bent to the shape of the hull. I did not have any problems with leveling the surface. I made the vertical using a square 90 degrees relative to the waterline, the horizontal parallel to the deck.

 

[AllanKP69]

there are many ways of copper sheathing and they are all different.

Hi Alexander,
Thank you for that information. Up to now I had only found information stating that the coppering was done from the top down with 1.5 inch overlaps. I realize at our scales the coppering should be as thin as paper otherwise actually overlapping on the model is not a good idea as you mention. Can you please tell me the names of the books or sources you have for the schooners as I would very much like to read more about this. It is so good that there is always something new to learn so I very much appreciate your help to learn more about this.
Thank you very much.
Allan

 

[Frank48]

Allan, there are many ways of copper sheathing and they are all different. For large ships of the frigate type and above, the sheathing was laid in one way, for schooners and brigs in another. In my country, on various forums, "more than one spear has been broken" on this matter. I sheathed the brig Mercury like the schooner I was assembling. The sheets are arranged like scales on a fish - from the bottom up and from the bow to the stern. Due to the fact that there is no overlap of the sheets, this is not difficult to do. It is more difficult to bend the copper sheets. In the photo you can see that they are not cut, but bent to the shape of the hull. I did not have any problems with leveling the surface. I made the vertical using a square 90 degrees relative to the waterline, the horizontal parallel to the deck.

of what I know, the suppraposition is not only vertically but also in the horizontal direction from the middle of the ship to the bow and vice versa to the stern.Frank